New Hampshire's unemployment rate of about 5.2 percent points to a relatively robust economy. The southern half of the "Live Free or Die" state long ago became a suburb of Boston and contains about three quarters of New Hampshire's population. As for the legal market — that's somewhat complicated, said Kevin Fitzgerald, managing partner of Nixon Peabody's Manchester office.
"New Hampshire is a stratified legal market," he said. "The middle band — firms between 30 and 80 lawyers that have traditionally represented New Hampshire businesses — that piece of the market has shrunk dramatically over the last 25 years."
